Since at least 1998, many commercial vans have been fitted with side airbags. At first, vans were equipped with tubular shaped head side airbags. This airbag was designed to offer head protection in side impact collisions and also maintained inflation for up to seven seconds for rollover protection. However, this tubular shaped airbag design was quickly replaced by an inflatable curtain airbag. Side curtain airbags generally deploy from the roof. Roof-mounted curtain airbags protect both front and rear passengers. Curtain airbags have been said to reduce brain injury or fatalities by up to 45% in a side impact with a sport utility vehicle (SUV). These airbags come in various forms (e.g., tubular, curtain, door-mounted) depending on the needs of the application. Many recent SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) have a long inflatable curtain airbag that protects all three rows of seats.
As automotive safety features become more capable of protecting vehicle occupants, side curtain air bags, which are designed to provide head and neck protection in rollover and side-impact collisions, have become popular. Many automakers offer them as a standard safety feature, even on their entry-level models. For Example, Ford Motor Company has developed an air bag for the 15-passenger Transit van. At nearly 15 feet long and 3 feet tall, the air bag relies upon two inflaters to fill its 11-gallon volume in a fraction of a second, and stays inflated for several seconds. A series of sensors activates the inflaters during a crash. The giant air bag, which is made from a coated, polyester cloth, is supported by the vehicle's B, C, and D pillars. However, these side curtain airbags often interfere with the mechanical door mechanism that opens and closes the van doors.
Therefore, there is a need for a van door assembly that supports a door mechanism such that there is no interference with the side curtain airbag.